I recently read a paper titled “Predictive Analytics in Workplace Safety: Four ‘Safety Truths’ that Reduce Workplace Injuries”, published by Pittsburgh-based Predictive Solutions. The company offers a variety of safety solutions to help customers improve and sustain their safety program results. The article stated that predictive analytics help many organizations gain insight into their operations and use their resources in the most effective way. These models predict the likelihood, frequency and location of workplace injuries using the customers’ safety-observation data.

How can workplace injuries be predicted? Predictive analytics draws real-time conclusions about future risk using safety-observation data. For instance, the company’s “Red Flag” model identifies projects, sites or work groups that show characteristics at a higher risk of incidents.

In addition, Predictive Solutions offers consulting services that drive culture and process change within organizations to create sustainable workplace injury prevention programs. In my experience, a company’s culture is the most important aspect in reducing workplace injuries. Predicting occupational accidents, incidents and injuries is great as long as an employer is willing to change its company culture. One does not need a library of data to determine there is a problem in a company. On the other hand, experience tells me that extensive OSHA citations, high EMR (Experience Modification Rating), high workers’ compensation premiums and high employee-turnover rates are indicators of a company in need of a safety program. How the ownership, management, and workforce view safety is the real key to preventing workplace incidents and accidents. A mountain of data is useless without a commitment to make changes within a company.

For data to make a difference in an organization, a safety program must be in effect in the company. A safety program primarily requires a firm commitment from the owners and top management, as well as buy-in from all employees and all levels of management.

Secondly, a written HASP (Health and Safety Plan) that documents the firm’s commitment should be in place. For help in developing a health and safety plan, a company can hire a consultant or a safety professional; contact the OSHA area office; or visit OSHA’s website.

In addition, training must be included in the program. This training must follow all the pertinent OSHA standards. The most important standards for the roofing industry to follow are fall protection, scaffolding and powered industrial trucks.

Finally, it is important to provide feedback through job-site audits and inspections. These inspections can be performed in-house by managers, supervisors or a safety professional. Through inspections, the company can determine if its program is working.

Collecting data for the sake of collecting data is absolutely useless without a viable documented safety culture. Training and inspection programs must also be in place to address the data that has been collected.

In Safety Pioneer W.H. Heinrich’s Industrial Accident Prevention, A Scientific Approach, first published in 1931, Heinrich states 88 percent of all accidents are caused by unsafe acts. Unsafe conditions cause only about 10 percent of workplace accidents, and 2 percent are caused by “acts of God”. Although, there was no research behind these statements whatsoever, Heinrich essentially says accidents rarely just happen. They almost always have causes and can be prevented.

The two primary causes of accidents—unsafe conditions and unsafe acts—need to be understood to keep our employees and ourselves safe in the workplace.

Unsafe conditions are physical conditions of the workplace that render the workplace unsafe. These conditions may include unguarded leading edges, slippery walking/working surfaces, and precariously stacked material

The good news is it is relatively easy for employers to protect their workers from unsafe conditions. All it requires is knowledge of what causes the workplace to be unsafe and the willingness to address these issues. Regular inspections and training will prevent most, if not all, unsafe conditions.

Unsafe acts, put simply, are practices human beings perform that are hazardous. Some of the most common unsafe acts include rushing, taking shortcuts, horseplay, and drinking or drug abuse. Other unsafe acts include disabling safety devices and not using or improperly using personal protective equipment. Safety education and training and enforcement are the most effective ways to keep employees from committing unsafe acts.

Although unsafe conditions and acts are the immediate causes of accidents and incidents, it is important to remember every accident may have started long before the immediate causes. In other words, every accident is the culmination of a series or chain of events that may have begun several months before the job even started, even at the bidding process. If the chain is broken, the incident or accident could be avoided.

For example, consider an incident that recently happened to me at home. I am a diabetic. Because I am a diabetic, I drink a great deal of water. Most nights I sleep with a glass of water on my bedside table. One night, I placed the glass on the corner of the table, close to the edge. My wife said, in her sweet voice, “That glass is too close to the edge of the table.” Me being me—tired and having been married almost 30 years—heard, “Blah, blah, blah.” During the night, I woke up to use the bathroom. As I was climbing back into bed, I knocked the glass over and spilled water all over the bed. My wife woke up angry. I got angry. We needed to change the bed sheets, so by the time I got back to sleep, it was 3:30 a.m., almost time to get up for the day. My alarm goes off at 4:30. I drove to work feeling like a plane on autopilot. Walking up the stairs to the office I missed the top step and smashed my knee. All day long, I was walking around the site wincing in pain. My accident started the night before when I didn’t listen to my wife. If you think about it, if I took better care of myself, I would have not come down with diabetes. And then I wouldn’t need to drink so much water.

Think about any accident or incident you may have had in your life or career. Think about when that incident began. What was the situation? Were there any unsafe conditions? Were you or anyone else involved in any unsafe acts? What was your frame of mind? Think about each accident as a chain. What links in that chain could you have broken to prevent that accident?

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November/December 2017 issue

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Roofing is a national publication that unravels, investigates and analyzes how to properly design, install and maintain a roof system. Through the voices of professionals in the field, Roofing’s editorial provides a unique perspective.